432 EVO Master reviewHifi.NL August 2021
“With the last generation of the 432 EVO Master, Frederic Van den Poel has delivered his best music server to date.”
Written by Werner Ero: August 2021.
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Conclusion
“….what we have here is a very special music server which within it’s price class, is among the best challengers today. Even though a top class CD transport still sounds substantially different in it’s own way and still is hard to beat on it’s own strong aspects, there is indeed a far-reaching analog sound. This makes the rendering smooth, airy, spacious and naturally realistic and moreover, also has exactly that right outlined and catchy character that is so typical of a good analog source. Nice work Frederic!”
432 EVO High-End reviewPositive Feedback May 2022
“The 432 EVO High End Music Server is a remarkable player, making good on its promise to deliver a warmer, more pleasant listening experience via its 432 Hz tuning.”
Written by Juan C. Ayllon: May 2022.
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Freedom of Choice.
The 432 EVO High End Music Server is a remarkable player, making good on its promise to deliver a warmer, more pleasant listening experience via its 432 Hz tuning. It definitely takes the edge off digital files and, if you’re jonesing for vinyl playback but don’t have the bucks or inclination to purchase a good one (or a decent cartridge and phono stage preamplifier, for that matter), this might be the way to go; you get the convenience of digital with a lion’s share of vinyl’s warmth. Moreover, if you prefer your downloads, ripped files and streaming served straight up, you can do that, as well; with a click of a setting, you can listen in 440 Hz. But, wait, there’s more! You can also rip CDs via its built-in ripper. There’s also the upsampling options, but that does not appeal to me, so I didn’t bother and, hence, cannot comment on that.
Either way, the 432 EVO High End Music Server is a great value; teamed-up with the likes of the Schiit Audio Yggdrasil OG DAC, Pass Labs amplification, Straight Wire cabling, Usher Audio Mini Dancer 2 tower speakers, and a good acoustical space, it delivers a musical experience that entreats you to listen to just one more song, again and again! Moreover, it is fully upgradable to their $7500 432 EVO Aeon model. Bottom line, it gets my thumbs up.
432 EVO STANDARD reviewHiFi Critic December 2021
“When Chris Frankland heard whispers of a streamer that was impressing some staunch analogue supporters, he had to find out what made the 432 evo standard so special.”
Written by Chris Franklin: December 2021.
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Good to go
Your 432 Evo Standard thus equipped is ready to rock and roll. and should work straight out of the box, requiring only that you sign up to Roon, well worth it as it is an excellent piece of control and library management software. You will also need a subscription to a suitable music provider, such as Tidal or Quobuz. As well as 2TB of internal SSD storage with SATA noise filtering, the Standard comes with custom remote-supported Linux and a built-in ‘bit-perfect’ TEAC CD ripper. Input to the streamer is via an Ethernet cable and output to your DAC via USB or HDMI. It supports common file formats, including WAV and FLAC at resolutions up to 32bit/ 768kHz, while the Roon implementation also supports DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 and DSD512.
The Listening
I hooked the 432 Evo up to a Pro-Ject PreBox RS2 Digital DAC, which was connected through my Audio Note Meishu Tonmeister amp to AN-J LX Hemp speakers, with a Chord Company Signature USB cable to connect the server to the DAC. My listening was split into three. First, I just listened to it in my system before comparing it with anything. Then I compared it with the much cheaper, but excellent, Pro-Ject Stream Box Ultra S2 streamer at £629. If it couldn’t beat that, it would be a nonstarter. Then I put it up against an Innuos Zenith Mk3 streamer, which with 2TB storage retails at £3,999. At the importer’s suggestion, output upsampling filters were disabled – at which point I should note I have rarely heard upsampling do a whole lot of good for sound quality. Similarly, DAC output resolution was set to 16bit/44.1kHz and ‘internal precision’ to ‘1x output resolution’.
432 EVO AEON reviewThe Absolute Sound May 2022
“The 432 EVO Aeon is the best sounding music server I’ve listened to at length, a product that deserves the highest recommendation.”
Written by Andrew Quint: May 2022.
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Freedom of Choice.
Just this once, let’s do the whole review thing upside down and begin with the conclusion. The 432 EVO Aeon is the best sounding music server I’ve listened to at length, a product that deserves the highest recommendation. It also features a DSP alternative that I find to be completely wrongheaded, one that places front-and-center a key question regarding the audiophile pursuit: How much is this hobby of ours about leveraging technology to realize, as much as possible, the artistic intent of composers, performers, and recording engineers and how much manipulation of musically relevant parameters should be left to the end-user? That’s where the “432” part—a reference to a playback option that can either be embraced or declined—of this Belgian company’s name comes in. I’ll have plenty more to say about music converted to 432Hz if you choose to read on. Which I hope you will, as choice is very much what the Aeon is about.
432 EVO Master reviewHigh Fidelity Poland April 2022
“SO THE 432 EVO MASTER IS a device in many ways unique. It is dynamic and resolving, but also very focused on tonal differentiation, and thus emotionally expressive.”
Written by WOJCIECH PACUŁA: April 2022.
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SUMMARY
SO THE 432 EVO MASTER IS a device in many ways unique. It is dynamic and resolving, but also very focused on tonal differentiation, and thus emotionally expressive. The resolution allows you to appreciate the transition from 16-bit to 24-bit files. The instruments gravitate with it towards the foreground, but they are perfectly separated, and therefore legible. The midrange is open and strong, also in its higher range. This is why readability is so good, as is selectivity. Transport does not exaggerate in drawing contours. It is also not a “warm” sound, it’s not that type. So I would treat this device as a precise tool for “extracting” information from files, and I would shape the timbre with a D/A converter and cables. At the same time, it will work better in systems where the color is on the warmer side than in expressive ones. This is an example of the fact that playing files is an art that matures with time and that allows even us mortals to get closer to the “studio”.
DESIGN
FILE TRANSPORT 432 EVO MASTER consists of two parts: proper electronics and power supply. Both are housed in very similar, low aluminum housings. They look like enclosures manufactured for the DIY market, which can be used by designers of amplifiers, power supplies and other devices. Their mechanical structure is similar, that is, most elements of the chassis are bolted to the rigid heat sinks. Interestingly, these heat sinks are not used, no components/elements inside were fixed to them. So they only play a decorative and mechanical role. They differ in the front and back panels. In the transport, there is a CD-ROM drive slot in the front, an a power switch. The rear of the power supply is made of a thick sheet of aluminum with the names of the outputs engraved on it, while the one in transport is thin and only varnished. This seems to be a big oversight as it all looks like a temporary solution, which it is not.